Well, I spent a week in Kwakwani. It was an experience.
The first day, Friday, David came over in the morning and we
walked around town for about 3 hours. He showed me all around the school, the
hospital, the general stores and the saloons. The saloons was kind of a joke
but there are actually a few bars. It is a mining town after all. David told me
The Double Deuce, a bar in the middle of town, is the nicest and most
frequented one. Apparently the family that owns it is the richest family in
town as well. (For the uninitiated, The Double Deuce is the name of the bar in
the Patrick Swayze film Roadhouse. Coincidentally or possibly providentially,
it is the last movie I watched on American soil. Chismet, much?)
After the walk, it was about 2 in the afternoon. We went to
The Sycamore, a bar built next to a Sycamore tree, and had a few Banks beers.
The music was Guyanese, ear splittingly loud and drowning out conversation, the
sun was hot and the drinks were cold. A perfect South American afternoon.
After that I went home and whiled away the afternoon
decorating and cleaning my new house. If I had to describe the décor it would
be…Christian. Very Christian. As I was cleaning I realized the row houses where
the miners live is fairly close to my house. I could hear the music blasting
from their houses invading mine at a mildly intolerable level. Paying it no
mind, I thought it would turn off at a reasonable hour and continued setting up
my house.
About 10pm, I realized the music wasn’t going off. And by
Sunday, I couldn’t hear it anymore.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully. On Monday, David
and I went into the schools and hospital. He introduced me around to all the
important people I might need to know. David also informed me that his
counterpart, at the health center, was not interested in having another volunteer.
They were getting two new staff members and there wouldn’t be enough work for
me. Really, and I was a little surprised, she was doing me a favor. And it is
nice of her, not wanting to waste my time.
After Monday, I just walked around most days trying to get a
feel for Kwakwani. It is a very small town. At a quick pace you can walk around
the main town area in about 20 minutes. It takes another 20 minutes to walk
down to the waterfront where I talked with a few guys about fishing. Apparently
there are some big fish in there, if I catch one I’ll let you all know.
Kwakwani also has a basketball court which I’m pretty happy about. So beers and
basketball are in my immediate future. Kwakwani is a pretty cool place, I think
I’m going to like it. Who wouldn’t like a small mining town of less than 1000
people in the middle of the South American jungle?
